I learned so much from this. Thank you! Everyone tells me that I would love Favignana, but Ponza stole my heart & I never venture further south. Last winter I did visit the wonderful palace in Palermo where The Lions of Sicily was filmed.
Favignana is amazing…but honestly my favorite is marettimo. That’s if you like having a quiet time in a remote place with not many people around. They don’t even have an hotel there, just b&b’s in peoples homes…there’s hardly a road where cars can drive 🤯, and the entire sea surrounding the island is protected nature reserve…magical place
Totally fascinating. Watching the black and white film from the '40s made me think of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea and how a good writer could make a wonderful story about the Tonnara and the men and woman (and some boys it seems from the video) who made a living from it. The drawing, the interviews as source materials, they are a writer's dream come true.
Absolutely, the tonnaroto you see in the video with blonde curly hair at some stage takes his shirt off and shows a scar that goes from his neck all the way to his butt 😳
So interesting, thank you! The part about the tuna farms reminds me of the situation with glass eel fishing in Maine. They hatch in the Sargasso Sea and the babies migrate to rivers in Maine where they are netted and sent to Asia to be raised in aquafarms for unagi. The price of the transparent baby "glass" eels is so high that all kinds of crazy things go on in that fishery.
This is a WONDERFUL post! We traveled to western Sicily this past summer and have just finished reading Stefania Auci's novels, I LEONI DI SICILIA and L'INVERNO DEI LEONI. So interesing to see images related to the saga of the Florios. Cannot wait to return! We went to Mozia but at the time we new nothing about Favignana. It is now on our bucket list, along with l'Arenella, il Villino Florio and the tonnara museum. THANK YOU FOR THIS MARVELOUS POST!!!
This is an incredible story Francesco; you could easily make a TV documentary on this that would be absolutely gripping.
I learned so much from this. Thank you! Everyone tells me that I would love Favignana, but Ponza stole my heart & I never venture further south. Last winter I did visit the wonderful palace in Palermo where The Lions of Sicily was filmed.
Favignana is amazing…but honestly my favorite is marettimo. That’s if you like having a quiet time in a remote place with not many people around. They don’t even have an hotel there, just b&b’s in peoples homes…there’s hardly a road where cars can drive 🤯, and the entire sea surrounding the island is protected nature reserve…magical place
Thank you for your food stories! You are an encyclopedia! How fortunate you are.😀
Totally fascinating. Watching the black and white film from the '40s made me think of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea and how a good writer could make a wonderful story about the Tonnara and the men and woman (and some boys it seems from the video) who made a living from it. The drawing, the interviews as source materials, they are a writer's dream come true.
Great article! Was it considered a dangerous occupation at the stage of bringing the massive tuna into the boat? Many injuries? Thanks again!
Absolutely, the tonnaroto you see in the video with blonde curly hair at some stage takes his shirt off and shows a scar that goes from his neck all the way to his butt 😳
So interesting, thank you! The part about the tuna farms reminds me of the situation with glass eel fishing in Maine. They hatch in the Sargasso Sea and the babies migrate to rivers in Maine where they are netted and sent to Asia to be raised in aquafarms for unagi. The price of the transparent baby "glass" eels is so high that all kinds of crazy things go on in that fishery.
Wow, great read, enjoyed every bit of it, thanks!
This is a WONDERFUL post! We traveled to western Sicily this past summer and have just finished reading Stefania Auci's novels, I LEONI DI SICILIA and L'INVERNO DEI LEONI. So interesing to see images related to the saga of the Florios. Cannot wait to return! We went to Mozia but at the time we new nothing about Favignana. It is now on our bucket list, along with l'Arenella, il Villino Florio and the tonnara museum. THANK YOU FOR THIS MARVELOUS POST!!!